1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transmission efficiency in a communications network. More specifically, the present invention relates to reducing transmission errors in a wireless communications network.
2. Background Art
FLO is a technology designed primarily for the efficient and economical distribution of the same multimedia content to millions of wireless subscribers simultaneously. The goal of FLO technology is to reduce costs associated with delivering such content and allow users to surf channels of content on the mobile handsets typically used for traditional cellular voice and data services. This multimedia content is also known as services. A service is an aggregation of one or more independent data components. Each independent data component of a service is called a flow.
Services are classified into two types based on their coverage: Wide-area services and Local-area services. A Local-area service is multicast for reception within a metropolitan area. By contrast, Wide-area services are multicast in one or more metropolitan areas.
FLO services are carried over one or more logical channels, known as MediaFLO™ Logical Channels or MLCs. An MLC may be divided into a maximum of three logical sub-channels. These logical sub-channels are called streams. Each flow is carried in a single stream.
Processing of MLCs in a FLO network is controlled based upon control Protocol information. The control protocol information is transmitted over the air by the network in units call physical layer packets (PLPs).
Within a FLO network, multiplexing multiple streams of different media onto an error-prone, wireless broadcast channel can present significant challenges. In particular, if the overhead information necessary for a network device to de-multiplex and/or decode the data is received by a receiver at the device in error, the corresponding media is lost until valid overhead information is received. If the PLPs carrying the stream information are received in error, the receiver will be unable to de-multiplex and/or decode individual streams, even though the media has been received error free.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and system to de-multiplex individual streams and process stream data even if one or more individual streams are received in error.